Slipper sole



Dec. 11, 1962 D. B. PETERSON SLIPPER SOLE Filed May 1, 19 61 38 DOROTHY B. PETERSON INVENTOR.

' ATTURNEY United States Patent 3,067,532 SLIPPER SOLE Dorothy B. Peterson, 704 E. Thomas, Apt. 105, Seattle 22, Wash. Filed May 1, 1961, Ser. No. 106,631 5 Claims. (Cl. 36-9) This invention relates to a new and useful concept in a footwear article in which a soleless, sock-type upper element is attached to a separately made, two-element, lower or sole and braid portion.

Footwear articles of the combined slipper and sock variety, of which there have been a number introduced to the consuming public in recent years, are generally used for lounging and indoor leisure purposes. The complexity of construction of many of such slipper sock articles has been a deterrent to widespread public acceptance. The article of this invention solves the cost problems of complicated construction of its predecessors by providing a one-piece sole pattern which, when assembled with a decorative and supporting braid strip, is found to minimize labor time. Thus, production costs are minimized and the ultimate retail price is extremely reasonable. Such reasonable retail price is further reduced if, instead of purchasing the completed article, the consumer buys a semi-finished slipper sole and makes the upper or instep ankle portion and attaches it to the sole, herself.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a slipper sole which is provided with a sole with upstanding side portions all of which are formed of a single piece of sole material.

Another object of this invention is to provide a slipper sole in which the upper edges of the side portions of the soles are provided with a braid strip which is decorative and which also serves as a necessary item in the construction of the invention.

Yet another object is the design of a slipper sole which .can be supplied as a complete item or which may be" sold to the public inkit form to be finished on a do-it-yourself basis.

A further object of this invention is to furnish a slip per sole which as'a completed item is extremely simple in design and construction, yet decorative in appearance and very economical to produce.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a slipper sole in which the various parts, when worn out, are replaceable with a minimum of trouble.

An additional object of this invention is the design 7 of a slipper sole which may be washed as a complete unit.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the one piece sole section as it appears in cut-out form and of the inside lining as it appears with respect to said sole section;

FIGURE '2 is a perspective view of a sole section cutout or pattern which has been sewn in the required manner and to which has been joined the braid strip;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a complete slipper sole which shows a knitted or woven upper portion as it would appear when attached to the braid and sole of FIG. 2; and

FIGURE 4 is an elevational cross-section view of the toe end of the slipper sole taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, and specifically FIG. 1, it will be seen that the one piece sole section, pattern or cut-out, generally designated by number 10, is' what may be described as boat-shaped. The sole may be made of plastic, leather, kid or any other suitable material which can be rendered soft for foot comfort and which has good wearing qualities. The sole 10 is illustrated with the aid of dotted lines in order to more completely describe to those skilled in the art the specific configuration of the sole pattern.

Sole 10' has side edges 25 and 27 which slope back from the round, pointed toe edge 18 and which join with the heel edge defined by numbers 23, 24 and 26; The heel edge contains a very slight curvature in the preferred embodiment though it may be cut on a straight line without noticeable effect. The final pattern is formed by cutting wide V-shaped notches 30 and 32 at each corner of the heel edge. The round and pointed toe edge 22 is formed from edge 18 by cutting inwardly at a substantially 90 angle from side edge 25 at a point where said side edge 25 begins to curve into toe edge 18. Such inwardly cut or toe offset edge 20 is approximately to 1 inch deep. Toe edge 22. is cut on the same curvature as the edge 18 so that it lies back from said edge 18 a uniform distance. The offset edge 20 is cut to the depth to which it is desired that the side portions of the completed sole rise above the fiat or bottom area of said sole.

Side edge 27 is not cut so as to present an inwardly extending offset edge corresponding to otfset edge 20.

1 Instead the side 27 extends forwardly of the toe in the form of flap 28; Flap 28 is long enough to extend around the toe edge 22 and slightly past offset edge 20 in the direction of the heel. Thus, if an offset edge, such as is shown by dotted line 21, were cut inwardly from side edge 27 the inner end of such edge 21 would meet the junction of the inner side edge of flap 28 and the toe edge 22. It should be noted that the two edges of each of the heel notches 30 and 32 are approximately the same length as the offset edge 20.

A soft lining 14 of felt or other suitable material is shown superimposed on the sole pattern 10 to indicate the approximate size of the finished sole when all sewing is completed.

FIG. 2 shows the sole pattern as it would appear when finished. The inner edge of flap 28 is sewn to toe edge 22 by stitching 42 and the end of flap 28 is sewn to offset edge 20 by stitching 40. The two edges of each of the notches 30 and 32 are brought together and attached by stitching 36. The final step in completing the sole assembly is to attach the single strip of braid 16 to the edges of the upstanding side portions which are formed by the sewing operations. The braid strip 16 is perhaps /2 inch wide and long enough to extend completely around the periphery of the sole. About half of the width of braid'strip 16 overlies the side portions so that stitching 38 may attach the braid 16 to the upstanding side portions. Thus, the other half of the width of braid strip 16 extends above the edges of the side portions. The ends of braid strip 16 are sewn together at the heel end of the sole by stitching 17.

FIG. 3 shows the sole and braid assembly of FIG. 2 with the knitted or woven upper 34 attached thereto. The upper or instep-ankle section of the complete slipper sole is not a complete sock. As can be seen by reference to FIG. 4 the upper section is soleless. The lower, or open sole portion of the upper section is attached around its edges to the braid strip 16 by stitching 44 which may be, for example, a machine stitch. Such attachment may be made by various methods of stitching. It is contemplated that the upper section 34 may be made of any type of fabric, whether knitted, netted, woven or crocheted.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the construction involved at the toe of this invention. The edge 22 is turned upwardly to present a slight margin. At the same time the inner edge or margin of flap 28 is doubled back onto the flap itself and held against the margin of edge 22. In this manner three thicknesses of sole are sewn together as by stitching 42. Stitching is done on the inside of the sole so that only a finished appearance of stitching is seen from the outside of the slipper sole. In like manner the edges of notches 30 and 32 are brought together and sewn inside as may be seen in FIG. 2. The offset edge '26 and the end of flap 28 are likewise sewn from the inside by stitching 40.

When the braid has been attached to the completed sole the edges of upper section 34 are stitched to braid 16 in any manner desired. From the above description it will be apparent that the slipper sole may be a do-it-yourself item in which the customer is sold a completed sole and braid assembly together with yarn or other material which can be used to knit or crochet an instep-ankle or upper section of many color and design variations.

It will be apparent that the seamless sides of this slippersole allow maximum barefoot comfort when the article is being worn. Since it is contemplated that the finished sole portion with attached braid will be sold without the upper 34 many designs and colors of such upper may be stitched to the finished sole.

It is to be understood that the showing of this invention is very diagrammatic and that said invention is capable of many refinements which will readily occur to those skilled in the art. It is obvious that there may be many variations in the materials used and the stitching employed without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore not to be limited except as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A footwear article of the slipper-sole type, comprising: a boat-shaped sole formed of a single section of sole material, said sole having a bottom portion and upstanding side portions around the entire periphery of said bottom portion; a braid strip attached to and extending around the upper part of said side portions, a portion of the width of said braid strip overlying said side portions and a portion of the width of said braid strip extending above said side portions; and a soleless sock type upper section attached by its edges to that portion of said braid strip which extends above said side portions.

2. A sole portion for a footwear article of the slippersock type, comprsing: a boat-shaped sole formed of a single section of sole material, said sole having a bottom portion and upstanding side portions around the entire periphery of said bottom portion; and a braid strip attached to and extending around the upper part of said side portions, a portion of the width of said braid strip overlying said side portions .and a portion of the width of said braid strip extending above said side portions.

3. A sole for a footwear article of the slipper sole type, comprising: a single piece of sole material which is generally boat-shaped in design, said sole having an ofiset edge on one side of its toe edge and having a flap on the other side of its toe edge, said flap projecting beyond said toe edge so that it may be attached to said toe edge and said offset edge to present an upstanding toe portion; and a notch cut into each of the two heel corners so that the opposed edges of each of said notches may be attached to each other to form upstanding side and heel portions.

4. A sole for a footwear article of the slipper sole type, comprising: a single piece of sole material having a rounded toe edge, the toe end of said sole being wider at its widest part than said heel end, said sole having an offset edge on one side edge between the rounded toe edge and said one side edge, said sole also having a flap on the other side edge, said flap extending beyond the point of said toe and being of sufficient length to extend around said toe edge to said offset edge; and a notch formed in each of the two heel corners.

5. A sole for a footwear article of the slipper sole type, comprising: a single piece of sole material having a rounded toe edge, side edges and a heel edge, the toe end of said sole being wider at its widest point that the heel end, said sole having an offset edge on one side edge between said rounded toe edge and said one side edge, said sole also having a flap extending from a point between said toe edge .and said other side edge beyond said toe end and being of sufficient length to extend around said toe edge to said offset edge; and a notch formed in each of the two heel corners.

Karrer et a1. May '13, 1924 Yandell May 22, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 503,304 Italy Dec. 4, 1954 

